Susan Black to Moderate Conversations At OpenTravel's Chicago Seminar

The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel industry's leading distribution specification/standards development organization, is pleased to have Susan Black as moderator for its Chicago Seminar on September 15, 2009.

"The key words in travel distribution today are innovation, relevance and revenue," said Susan Black, managing partner at Susan Black Associates. "The down economy has sharpened consumer's desire for relevant and appropriate information and product, and travel suppliers and distributors from large corporations to the smallest tour operator are being forced to rethink their distribution assumptions. At this OpenTravel event, we'll talk about how the current climate is re-shaping the online world and how standards can provide the basis for a cost-effective strategy."

Topics on the agenda include:

Getting Started with OpenTravel
Interested in understanding how OpenTravel structures its schemas, and how to approach implementation? Learn what you need to know to be successful using OpenTravel schemas.

Success Stories
Two leading travel companies that use OpenTravel schemas to connect to their trading partners will discuss their implementations. These brief case studies will cover business and technical drivers, messages used, production environment details and outcomes.

Participants:
Greg Berman, COO and Managing Director, Hotel Booking Solutions, Inc.
Lew Harasymiw, Director of Interface Solutions, SynXis

Distribution Innovation in a Down Economy
In a down economy when money is tight and projects are curtailed, how can travel companies continue to innovate in their distribution strategy? The panel of airline, hotel and rental car distribution executives will share how their companies manage, and the role standards play in their strategy.

Moderator:
Susan Black, Managing Partner, Susan Black Associates

Participants:
Michelle Aaron, Director of Applications, American Airlines
Lisa Fues, Director of Reservations, Inventory and Distribution, Marriott International
James White, Director Global Automation Marketing, Hertz

Distribution Trends in Emerging Travel Segments
Some of the most exciting distribution strategies are coming out of the emerging travel segments - tour operators, activities, vacation rentals, time share and destination management organizations. Join a panel of experts from some of these areas to discuss how standards can support the efforts of these segments.

Moderator:
Susan Black, Managing Partner, Susan Black Associates

Participants:
Stephen Joyce, CEO, RezGo
John Lambe, CTO, OpenJaw Technologies
Eric Mason, Vice President Global Product Development, Group RCI

For more information about the OpenTravel Chicago Seminar, click here .

About the OpenTravel Alliance
OpenTravel's mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. OpenTravel creates, expands and drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.

With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OpenTravel is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. Thousands of OpenTravel message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day. For more information, visit www.opentravel.org.

About Susan Black
Susan Black heads up the 8-year old strategy firm, Susan Black Associates (The Black & Wright Group). Clients include leading online travel brands, traditional travel distributors, suppliers and publishers, and travel industry start-ups. Susan is also Senior Advisor at NYC-based Bentley Associates Investment Bank. She serves on several corporate advisory boards, and was elected to ATME's 2009 Executive Committee (Association of Travel Marketing Executives) and US Travel Association's 2009 eCommerce Committee (formerly Travel Industry Association of America).

She recently served as CMO of CheapCaribbean.com, a top ranked website dedicated to Caribbean and Mexico vacations. Her previous posts include Executive Vice President, Marketing for $2 billion Liberty Travel/GOGO Worldwide Vacations; Founder, TravelCom Conference & Expo; Founder of the Travel Industry's Executive Women's Forum; Chairman of eTravelWorld; GM and Publisher of Thomas Publishing's Travel Group; and Associate Publisher of Corporate Travel Magazine.


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